Florian Mitrea – Chopin and Liszt. In B minor

Florian Mitrea – piano
Chopin and Liszt. In B minor

Frédéric Chopin – Scherzo in B minor
Frédéric Chopin – Nocturne op. 62 no. 1 in B major
Franz Liszt – Ballade no. 2 in B minor
Franz Liszt- Sonata in B minor

B minor stands at the edge of the musical spectrum. Just one semitone below C, where the keyboard begins anew, it sits on the threshold of resolution. For the Romantic composers, it became a key of longing, mystery, and transformation, where arrival is endlessly deferred.

In Chopin’s hands, B minor speaks with restless urgency in the Scherzo, inspired by the 1831 November Uprising, before yielding to the luminous calm of the Nocturne in B major, a fleeting glimpse of light that feels all the more precious for its transience.

Liszt’s Ballade No. 2 in B minor draws on the ancient Greek myth of Hero and Leander, a tale reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet: two lovers whose forbidden union provokes the vengeful wrath of Aphrodite. The Sonata in B minor, his most ambitious work for piano, is at once spiritual and deeply human. It has been interpreted as reflecting Liszt’s profound Franciscan faith, woven into the very fabric of its musical narrative.

Bound together by a single tonal centre, these works invite us to linger on the very edge of resolution, discovering that what lies closest to the end can also become the beginning of an extraordinary journey.